Saturday Afternoon

After the cheese factory, we drove to Cape Meares.

It was just a few miles north from where we stayed.

Dad went to check out the Air Museum,

and so it was just us girls checking out the Cape and lighthouse.

Here's a view of the lighthouse.

It was just a little one, but still really neat.

This was the view from the lighthouse.

Those rocks are the same ones

we could see from the Netarts Beach.

Even though I was there...I still had a hard time grasping

the concept that the ocean basically goes on forever.

The last place I would want to be is out in the middle where

I can't see anything...that's why I don't like the plains or

open ocean.  I'll forever be in the mountains!!!

There was also the Octopus Tree near the Cape.

It was huge, and had so many bases that you really

can't tell where it started.

Finally Getting There & Tillamook Cheese Factory

So we FINALLY got to Netarts Bay.

We were so excited to get there and to be with family.

We found everyone and then decided to go and unload our car.

Well, it was a bit more difficult than planned..the skybox

would NOT open.  And every uncle of mine (plus Jake)

can tell you that haha.

They tried EVERYTHING to get it open!

But we ended up driving to Tillamook that night to get

the right tools to pop out the rivets and open it.

We just felt sick breaking into the box because we'd

borrowed it from our neighbors.  Let's just say I'm

grateful for lifetime warranties...

cause long story short, we got a new box on the way home

to replace the broken one.  Thanks again for letting

us borrow your box Somsens...(even though we broke it)

but we hope you like your new box, haha.

Saturday morning, we checked out the beach.

There was a stream coming out of the hills to the ocean,

and a huge tree over it.  Those without water shoes

used it to cross.  I've dubbed this: Uncle Todd's tree...teehee.

Let's just say that earlier that morning he had quite 

the adventure crossing the stream ;)

This was the view that afternoon from the deck of our town-home.

We would gather to eat and play at the last house on the left

side of the street. (the brown one with the chimney)

There was a big backyard where we played ladder-ball then

we also got to the beach from there.

That afternoon we drove back to Tillamook to check out

the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Shelby and Megan posing

Can you say FREE SAMPLES!!!!

Oh they were gooood :)

They had windows where you could see the workers

cutting and packaging the cheese.

Here's Aunt Lois and Grandma watching the process

We found a funky van

As I was taking the picture, a lady came up and said

"You get in picture too!" (i think she was chinese,

and her accent was really thick)...so we all piled

in for a photo haha.

Friday (Pt. 3) Cannon Beach

So we headed down towards our reunion, stopping at a few places along the way.  Cannon Beach was gorgeous!!!  At that time, it was true Oregon weather: windy, cloudy and of course rainy.

But we didn't care about the weather, we were just excited

to FINALLY be on the Oregon Coast! :)

There was a light house on a really big rock,

and a few surfers in the water 

We walked to the other end of the beach where all the

cannons were at, and in this photo you can see how far

out the lighthouse really is

We had to leave soon after we walked to the other end

because the tide was coming in.

A view of the cannons:

We were having a great time, but every moment we missed

our brother!

Megan and Shelby each found a starfish

(note: picking them up could kill them...we didn't know this at the time)

Here they are showing Uncle Todd and the parents

They put them back in the ocean before we left

(hopefully they lived haha)

Walking back out from the beach was a little

dangerous...beware of low hanging branches!

We drove ahead and on our next stop, you could

look back north and see the beach we were on.

We took off from there and headed to Netarts Bay to join

our awesome family! It was a different reunion for me,

cause lots of the cousins my age weren't able to make it,

but it was still really fun and an incredible experience.

Friday (Pt. 2)

After we left Fort Stevens, we headed to the Columbia River

Maritime Museum in Astoria.

We learned a lot about the Coast Guard, and there were lots of stories,

some we read and some we listened to.

Meg checking out a sign next to the ship

The pictures do no justice as to how big this boat is in the museum,
but in this picture you can see a regular size door, and it kinda gives
you an idea.

There was a front-end replica of a battle ship, so we looked
around inside of it.

so meg was sitting in this seat inside the battleship, and 

shelby and i were dinking around right behind her with the compass 

and steering wheels.  mom walked around to the front and 

stuck her face in the window, and when megan turned away from us

 and saw her she screamed! it was soooo funny.  

here we are in this quiet museum and megan screams,

 and mom is laughing hysterically...anways, it was hilarious.

what the divers used to wear

A Lighthouse

Then we got to go on a ship

Here's a view from the outside.

After that, Uncle Todd showed up! :)

And he was kind enough to take a picture of us

I thought the chain was welded down, but it was actually
just sitting there.  Here's the girls attempting to pick it up.

We played on the dock for a bit.

Oregon Coast Trip: Friday (Pt 1.)

The next morning, the girls and I went onto a dock behind our hotel
and we got to see these guys: sea lions...they were huge!

Mom and Dad went for a walk the night before and heard them.

Then we drove over to Fort Stevens State Park to see the Peter Iredale, and the beach where my grandpa passed away.  Uncle blake says he remembers standing by this ship and watching the coast guard airplanes fly over head.

.  Grandma told me that there was a lot more of the ship showing when she was last there.  I have always wanted to go there, and I'm really glad that we did.

Smile Dad!...sheesh

We scoped out the beach while we were there, but most of the

shells and stuff were long gone, plus the tide was coming up again.

Here's a view of the Peter Iredale from where the water was at

that morning.

We left Fort Stevens and headed back to Astoria to meet up with

Uncle Todd.  Well...he accidentally took a long little detour and 

 so we ended up killing some time by checking out Astoria.

This look familiar?

How bout this?...okay, so the street above looked familiar

to me because it's in a movie!  And so is this school.

Astoria is where they filmed Kindergarten Cop.

They filmed the Goonies here too, but I haven't seen that.

So if you watch Kindergarten Cop, when they drive Mr. Kimball

away in the ambulance, this is the street that the ambulance

goes down. :)